Color management typically allows a user to present an image on a first device with a particular color gamut, on a different device with a different color gamut, in a manner that closely resembles what is presented on a first device. For example, the user may present an image on a display and print the image to a printer. Color management allows the user to print the image with color that closely resembles what is shown on the display.
Conventional color management techniques are based on a model of measured device response characterizations (i.e., how does the device produce color) and table generation coupled with interpolation to achieve the goal of matching images across various color devices such as displays and printers. For example, measured device response characterizations are turned into something called a profile of the device. As a function of the particular device being profiled, generating a color profile generation often requires dozens, hundreds, or thousands of device color output measurements or “responses”. For instance, a display characterization typically requires color instrument measurement of the display for approximately 30 to 100 color samples to predict how the display will produce color. With respect to a printer, the number of samples to measure can easily rise to over 2,000 to predict how the printer will produce color. To make matters more complex, certain device conditions may require additional color response measurements to be taken to generate a new profile. Such conditions include, for example, changing printer paper or ink type, etc. Additionally, user selected options such as “Perceptual Match”, “Absolute Match”, and so on, may require further complex color profile data interactions.
Color instruments for measuring color displays can be very expensive, often costing several hundred dollars, and instrumentation to measure printer color response (print output) can cost several thousand dollars. Because such measuring devices are substantially expensive, device color response measurements to generate device color profiles are usually beyond the reach of the consumer market.